Marilyn Monroe statue moving on again

Marilyn Monroe, as a 26-foot-tall statue in her famous subway-grate stance from "The Seven Year Itch" pose. Dubbed Forever Marilyn, the sculpture by New Jersey-based artist Seward Johnson has lived in Pioneer Court.

Michelle ManchirTribune reporter

After stints in Chicago and Palm Springs, Marilyn Monroe is moving once more, this time to the East Coast.

The leggy 26-foot-tall sculpture "Forever Marilyn" brought gawkers to Pioneer Court on Michigan Avenue for a year until it moved to Palm Springs in May 2012. This week, the Monroe sculpture is expected to be dismantled in California before arriving in her new home — New Jersey — via flatbed truck around April 7.

The 40,000-pound artwork by American artist Seward Johnson is made of stainless steel and aluminum and depicts a closed-eyed Monroe attempting to push down her dress, which has blown upward. It's a reference to a famous scene in her 1955 movie "The Seven-Year Itch."

In Palm Springs, the Monroe sculpture was welcomed warmly during its nearly two-year stay, with people turning out for a birthday party for the actress, to watch her movies at the site and to listen to live music and peek up the statue's skirt for a photo op.

"Forever Marilyn" will live in the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, N.J., which is hosting a retrospective of Johnson's art beginning May 4. It will be among the 150 works by the artist that will be on view in three indoor galleries as well as outdoors on the 42-acre campus.

Johnson is known for placing enormous pop-art icons in public spaces, including twice previously at Pioneer Court in Chicago, the plaza on the east side of Michigan Avenue between the Chicago River and the Tribune Tower. The Sculpture Foundation, a Santa Monica organization, owns the piece.